Although India has 3.3 million kms of roads only 1.5 million of it is paved and just 50,000 kms of National Highways is used most heavily. The major National Highways were in very bad shape for the last fifty years as roads were never given proper priority. Five years back the Indian government suddenly woke up and decided that India needed a proper highway system. No one believed that the project would really start taking shape.

These roads are not expressways. They are just highways. But they have changed the way of long distance driving. There are no guarantees though that you will not see camels, elephants or cows on the way :-)

Boosted by the results of the above project the Government has also started the NorthSouthEastWest - NSEW corridor of 7300 kms of which 596 kms have been completed and 467 kms are under implementation. Port connectivity roads of 356 kms have been announced of which 56 kms have been completed and 242 kms are under implementation. 777 kms of additional link highways have been proposed of which 153 kms have been completed and 162 kms are under implementation. The golden quadrilateral was scheduled to be completed by 2005 but the government thinks that except for the state of Bihar (about 300 kms) rest of the work will be completed by 2004 end. The NSEW was scheduled for completion by 2009 but it may see most of the work done by 2007 end.

Here are some pictures of the project taking shape: (the server is not very good)

The new highways are necessitating new interchanges and new bridges

A separator under construction

A new cable stayed bridge under construction

Other roads (Links)

Ahmedabad Vadodara Expressway

Even two lane state highways (not part of this project) are getting better.

I like the bridgeways the most.
By the way have you travelled on those lighter coloured concrete roads before.I find them rather unpleasant because most of the time they are more rough and the friction causes noises from your tyres.The dark tar roads are the opposite though..smooth going all the way.

The main advantage of concrete roads is their life is three times longer than tar ones, and India has harsh monsoons (Cherapunji in India has the highest cm rainfall in the world). That's why many of the expressways and highways being ocnstructed, and even many of Mumbai's roads are made of concrete. They're not all that bad either, one of the fastest roads in India is the 6-lane concrete Mumbai-Pune expressway.

The main advantage of concrete roads is their life is three times longer than tar ones, and India has harsh monsoons (Cherapunji in India has the highest cm rainfall in the world). That's why many of the expressways and highways being ocnstructed, and even many of Mumbai's roads are made of concrete. They're not all that bad either, one of the fastest roads in India is the 6-lane concrete Mumbai-Pune expressway.

Our North South expressways in Malaysia are also concrete based.Only now that they've realised that a lot of people complained about them that they are now starting to patch or upgrade them back to tar based ones.

I like the bridgeways the most.
By the way have you travelled on those lighter coloured concrete roads before.I find them rather unpleasant because most of the time they are more rough and the friction causes noises from your tyres.The dark tar roads are the opposite though..smooth going all the way.

You are very right.

But somehow the tar topped road surfaces just get washed away after three months of heavy downpours during the monsoons. It's really bad. The concrete roads seem to withstand the rains better.

Boosted by the results of the above project the Government has also started the NorthSouthEastWest - NSEW corridor of 7300 kms of which 596 kms have been completed and 467 kms are under implementation. Port connectivity roads of 356 kms have been announced of which 56 kms have been completed and 242 kms are under implementation. 777 kms of additional link highways have been proposed of which 153 kms have been completed and 162 kms are under implementation. The golden quadrilateral was scheduled to be completed by 2005 but the government thinks that except for the state of Bihar (about 300 kms) rest of the work will be completed by 2004 end. The NSEW was scheduled for completion by 2009 but it may see most of the work done by 2007 end.

But somehow the tar topped road surfaces just get washed away after three months of heavy downpours during the monsoons. It's really bad. The concrete roads seem to withstand the rains better.

Yes.I do agree with you,Suncity.India and Malaysia have very similar weather conditions.Tropical climate with rains all year round.
How I wished we were like Japan and Korea where they have excellent condition roads.Most of their tar roads are smoothly paved in detail.

Besides that,thanks for clarifying about Malaysia's involvement in India's highway projects with the link you provided just now.Looking forward to see more of India especially those modern townships and unique buildings from you guys.
I really need to get some sleep now.My eyes are about to close...
Goodnight.